What Lies In a Mask
by Tears of the Moon 17
Summary: They knew this day would come, the day when their secret identities were revealed. That's why they had a plan but when it's nearly completed, the worse possible thing happens . . . Their secrets, their identities are revealed before the world.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer- I have never claimed to own Young Justice! (. . . Okay, maybe once but it was a dream!)

This idea doesn't belong to me! It belongs to Pandy0615 and her (or his) beta reader, Hechu!

**Prologue**

In a way, the Justice League knew that they wouldn't be able to keep their identities a secret forever. They knew that one day one of them would slip up and reveal his or her identity to the world. They knew that accidental slipup would trigger an ambitious report or a member of the Injustice League to start looking for strange connections. For instance, the exposed hero somehow knew Bruce Wayne or Clark Kent even though they live on opposite sides of America. This would trigger a person's interest, would it not? Or maybe they would just shrug and go on with their day.

But Bruce knew they couldn't take that chance. They couldn't afford the consequences if they were unprepared for a full-blown exposure. So Bruce had an idea, a plan if you will, that would solve this little problem. He worked on his idea for days on end whenever he had a few good minutes. Even Dick, his nine-year-old ward and partner, had helped him work out some of the kinks. Alfred had also voiced his concerns of the little uncertainties that were poking out from Bruce's plan. When Bruce and Dick were unable to smooth out Alfred's concerns with some background information, they went back to the plan and added some steps that would work everything out.

Then came the day where Bruce's plan, no, _their_ plan was finally completed and was an image of perfection. But Bruce and Dick still had much to do. They had to prepare for their plan to be executed and thus, had to set the stage with all the props just like a play behind the curtains. They had to get their props so to speak ready to be used and had to make sure that everything was perfect for when the time came. Their "props" had to be secretly worked on without anyone (even the Justice League) knowing even the tiniest detail of the fail-safe plan. This was especially troublesome because the Justice League wanted to know what the plan was and so on.

"What will we do?"

"What's involved?"

"When will we have to fall back to your plan, Batman?"

"Why can't you tell us?"

"Don't you trust us?"

When Batman and Robin had been ambushed with those questions, they had coldly explained that there were risks if the _entire_ Justice League knew the plan. It would safer (not to mention easier) if it were only Batman, Robin and Alfred, who was called Agent A around heroes, knew what the plan consisted of. That way if the plan somehow found its way into the Injustice League's ears, fingers would only be pointed Batman (they wouldn't dare accuse Robin or Alfred in fear of Batman's wrath) and not at each other. It would most definitely benefit everyone if only three people knew the plan.

So, keeping it to themselves, Bruce and Dick continued to work hard on the plan and its tools so it would be ready as soon as possible. The sooner it was ready, the better because no one, even Batman, knew when the exposure of their identities would happen. Sure, they knew that it would happen _one day_ but it could be the following morning or fifty years from now! For that exact reason, Bruce and Dick put every waking moment into the development of the props needed for their plan. Even when Bruce was at work or when Dick was at school, the tools for their plan were consistently bouncing around in their minds. Heck, they were thinking about it absentmindedly while fighting _the Joker_!

This went on for another four years as they grew closer to having everything ready for the worst case scenario.

But something happened . . . And the way it happened completely threw them off their feet . . .

Someone had known . . .

. . . Without anyone slipping up.

**A/N- **This is the prologue. It's not long because it's supposed to get you interested. Please review! This was published on 10-7-12 with the length of 719 words.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer- I still don't own YJ.

Note- _Italics_ are thoughts and emphasis. Also, my chapters will be somewhere between 500 to 1000 words. I'm trying to make them longer than that but sometimes I just don't have the time!

Note 2- I've always pictured Dick as a funny student, pranking the school almost daily and getting away with it.

**Chapter 1**

The day had started out normal for Dick Grayson, the ward of playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne. He had gotten out of bed a little before six, gotten dressed in his workout clothes and had an hour-long workout in the Bat Cave. This was preceded by another shower but it was a quick shower, lasting only a minute or so. He then moved on to the kitchen where Alfred would be placing the food on the table and Bruce would be watching the news and reading the newspaper simultaneously. As Dick would shovel food into his mouth, Alfred would scold him while Bruce would chuckle and make small talk. This was how his mornings always went so he hadn't been alerted that something would happen that day.

After this talkative breakfast, Alfred had ushered them into the limo and dropped Dick at Gotham Academy at precisely 7:45 AM. This gave Dick time to lazily saunter to the front doors and make his way to his locker with Barbara at his side. Once he and Barbara would gather their needed textbooks, they would go to their homeroom that contained only freshmen. Yes, _only _freshmen. This was strange but Dick hadn't really cared till Artemis started coming to his school. That was when he wished she was in his homeroom for several reasons. One of them was that he could keep a watchful eye on her in case some of the guys and girls started to pick on her. He couldn't let that happen seeing as Wally had a crush on her and therefor couldn't stand if she was being picked on. Honestly, Dick didn't think it would happen but had listened to Wally's request nonetheless. Another reason was because it would be more _fun _that way. Artemis had always been curious about his secret identity and it was all too hilarious now that she went to his school. He was dancing in front of her yet she didn't know it was him.

But Dick had shrugged his thoughts off and followed Barbara to the back of the classroom. He then proceeded to pull out a giant textbook out of his bag and quietly studied along with Barbara. They would be having a test over the book soon and Dick felt that it was never too early to study. Barbara hadn't agreed at first but then embraced the idea when she realized that she would be having _Dick Grayson_ as her study partner, the smartest student in school. Even though Barbara was smart, she knew that having Dick as her study partner would be an advantage. He could open her eyes to a different way of seeing things or offer some interesting facts that would earn her bonus points on her tests. Yeah, being study partners with Dick was most _definitely_ a plus. Scratch that. Being friends with Dick Grayson was a plus. Not only was he smart and a good student, he had a pranking side to him. Oh, the stories Barbara could tell you!

But I digress. Back to the story.

Everything had been normal till the flat screen TV (this _is_ Gotham Academy we're talking about) hanging on the wall flickered, static buzzing in the room's atmosphere. Naturally, the teacher got up to her feet to find out what the problem was but suddenly a figure seemed to _jump_ out of the TV! The middle-aged teacher and the class hadn't reacted to this though; they were used to the pranks that Dick would let unfold before their very eyes.

"Mr. Grayson, what have you done _this_ time?" she questioned tiredly, her eyes warily watching the humanoid form that had originated from the television.

Dick's eyes ran over the figure and shrugged. "I didn't do that . . . That's a good idea though."

"But Dick, if you didn't do it . . . Then who did?" Barbara asked quietly in his left ear, keeping her eyes locked on the front of the classroom.

"This can't be good," Dick muttered as he shrugged at Barbara's question.

Dick was half tempted to pull out his wrist computer from his utility belt and scan the thing that looked like a cross between a robot and a Jedi. It had a brown cloak that covered its face and such but Dick spotted a sliver of machinery on its hands. It wasn't moving at all, its chest still like a robot's. But it had been transparent when it had leapt out of the TV, appearing to a hologram or something of along those lines. How the figure had two dimensional one moment and three dimensional another, Dick hadn't had a clue. No one, even Bruce and Dick, had been able to make technology that far advanced. This had to been at _least _two generations ahead of their current technology.

_. . . I want one._

Dick couldn't help but to want one. It was the tech geek in him, the side that desperately wanted to take it home and ticker with it. He could also feel his hands handling his tools as he worked on it and studied it. Heck, he wanted to make _another_ one without knowing if it was friend or foe!

_I hope this isn't another attempt to kidnap me. One guy already tried that a few weeks ago and for two weeks, Bruce wouldn't let me leave the house. Don't know how Bruce managed that feat. Probably threatened the principal or something-_

Dick's thoughts were interrupted when the figure straightened out of its crouching position and stood there, its face still hidden. A light flickered in the darkness where the face couldn't be seen and it suddenly had glowing eyes, _red_ glowing eyes. Dick felt his back stiff, sensing that red wasn't being used as friendly color today.

_Of course I'd be the one to get a killer robot (well, what I think is a killer robot) because apparently, I'm a target for kidnappers-_

He would have ranted more in his head but the killer robot (that's what Dick thought it was anyway) opened it mouth, speaking English in a manner unlike Red Tornado. The robot sounded, well, human!

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen. May I have your attention for a moment, please?"

**A/N- **Interested? Bored? In between? I won't know unless you review! This was published on 10-10-12 with the length of 1,123 words.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer- . . . I can't think of anything clever. -_-

I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING SOONER!

**Chapter 2**

Dick could feel his classmates' nerves skyrocket as the robot began to slowly pace in the front of the classroom. Its arms were folded away inside of the sleeves of the robe that covered it robotic body and its face was hidden from their curious eyes. That was enough to make anyone nervous. Take all of that and add it with the flickering channels on the TV, you'd have enough to send your nerves to the moon.

"Have any of you wondered why your heroes, the Justice League, never reveal their secret identities?" asked the robot who had stopped pacing.

Dick could almost feel his classmates' murmurs crawling across his skin and sinking into his bones. He knew what some of them thought about that little fact. Some of his classmates were curious (of course) but once they had thought about it, they got why heroes wore masks. It was to protect their loved ones from their foes, the ones who most definitely attack them. There were some classmates who thought that the Justice League was hiding something and that they _owed_ it to civilians who sometimes got involved to at least share their identities. Of course these two different opinions had clashed and had resulted in an all-out debate in their history class. Dick had stayed out of it though, not wanting to get his personal feelings dragged into it. He knew that he had gotten into it, he would have gotten so angry that he would have blown his secret.

_Why . . . Why is the robot asking us this? Is this somehow connected to his reason of being here?_

"Of course we have!" Barbara stood up, her hands slightly shaking. "But they have to protect their families! If letting the world know their secret identities will cause them harm, we have _no_ right to ask or know!"

_. . . I'm going to remember that if you ever find out that I'm Robin._

The robot stared at her for a moment and then chuckled. "Ah, but you _do_ have the right. After all, you and the world have placed their trust into these heroes so don't you at least get to know who they truly are? And what they're truly capable of? Aren't you entitled to that much at the very least?"

Barbara's cheeks flushed red with anger. "No! If anything, we owe it to _them_ to not be curious! They've saved our lives several times and-"

"But if they're going to lie about who they are, who can say that they haven't lied about anything else? How can you know when they tell the truth? And when they lie? How can you be so certain of these false faces?"

Dick's classmates murmured to one another, some nodding and others shaking their heads with fury. The robot's words had made sense to some of students and had only fueled the anger of others. Was it the robot's purpose to make people lose faith in the Justice League? Or did have a different agenda?

"If you do not believe my words, ask Dick Grayson. He is Robin after all, one of the only heroes who have not shared their secret identities with other heroes."

As all eyes bore holes into his skull, Dick laughed. "Me? I'm Robin? Ha! Dude, have you got your wires crossed-"

The robot's eyes glowed brighter as it stared at him. "If you look under his shirt, on his back there is a scar shaped like the letter J from the time the Joker tortured-"

Suddenly, a batarang sailed its way to the front of the room and right into the robot's chest, knocking him onto the floor. The robot's sentence was cut off as Dick stood up and started his way towards the robot.

"If you don't want the next one to go through your head, you'll tell me who sent you. Lex Luthor? The Joker? Well, you're not really his style but . . ."

The students and teacher could only stare as they saw Dick Grayson suddenly morph into someone different, someone they didn't recognize. They all had questions dancing on their tongues yet they couldn't seem to tear their eyes away from Dick's menacing form. So this was how Dick looked when he was angry . . .

The robot shook his head, picking himself off the floor. "Should you survive, you will then be informed of my leader. Until then, it shall remain a mystery."

Dick sighed, pulling something out his pocket. "You guys never do it the easy way. It would save me _so_ much time and energy if you guys would just cough up the information. Oh well. This will be fun too."

Dick turn quickly made his bo staff its normal size and swung at the robot's head, knocking it clean off. The sound echoed throughout the quiet classroom, bouncing off the walls as Dick picked up the robot's head with a grin.

"I'm pretty sure I can hack this thing's head-"

"Dick!"

The classroom's slammed harshly against the wall as a blur shot from it and stopped in next to Dick, revealing that the blur was a person.

"Wally? What's-"

"Can't talk now! Got to go _now_!" Wally said with urgency as he picked Dick up and carried him out the classroom at super speed, leaving Dick's classmates to their questions.

Barbara seemed to be the only one who could now talk. " . . . What the heck just happened?"

**A/N- **Honestly, I had to rewrite this chapter _three_ times before I was semi-happy with it. I know I shouldn't have stopped there and you're probably confused but I'M SO FREAKING TIRED! =_= Please review. This was published on 11-10-12 (in my time zone) with the length of 987 words.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer- Yeah, I totally own YJ which is why every season is about a different spin on Robin's past. ( Lie!)

I'm sorry about not updating sooner but life happened and time went by _really_ fast! It's a school night but I really need to update. My brain is going crazy from all the future chapters I'm thinking about.

**Chapter 3**

While Dick and his classmates had been subjected to listening to a manipulative robot, everyone else on Earth was experiencing the same thing. Whether the robot was speaking English, Spanish, French or any other language depended on what language your household, school or country spoke. Besides that, everyone had a robot that was trying to convince them that the Justice League was hiding something or something along those lines (such as they're liars, blah, blah, blah). No one knew what to do or what to say. It was just so bizarre! A robot had literally _come_ from their televisions! If you didn't have a television, the robot would just pull itself _out of thin air!_

How the heck are people supposed to deal with that?

Scream? Cry? Pepper it with questions? Wait for it to finally rip your throat out? Call the news people?

Well, someone must have been brave enough to go with that last option because it was all over the news, showing clips of the robots that people had taken with shaking hands. There were even some clips that schools frantically sent in so that maybe someone would recognize who these robots were and how to stop them.

Big mistake.

The panic-stricken teachers, principals, CEOs and other people didn't even realize what some of their videos contained. They didn't have a _clue_ what secrets were lying in wait inside the data they had sent in. They had _no idea_ that the robots had wanted this to happen so that something would come into the light of day.

The identities of superheroes.

But surely no one would _believe_ these videos, right? After all, people take bogus videos and label them as truth all the time. Yes, there would be some people who would instantly believe the videos but some people had more sense. Those were the people that the robots had to convince. They knew this and so . . . They did the one thing that most villains liked to do.

They took over the news stations.

Cliché, I know. What villain _hadn't_ done that already? But the robots and their superiors had thought that it was a wonderful idea, too eager to destroy the world's trust in the Justice League. It would be almost _too_ easy to flash some videos involving the revealing of superheroes' secret identities.

All they had to do was broadcast it.

**_Wayne Enterprises, Bruce's POV_**

When the Jedi-like robot had traveled into Bruce's meeting room from the television, Bruce had been slammed with a feeling of dread. He couldn't explain where it had come from or what it meant but he just _knew_ that this would change his life. Bruce's façade of being his playboy self hadn't wavered for a minute as the robot began to speak, his red eyes flashing. Bruce knew he had to stay in Bruce Wayne mode until he was sure it was safe to shift into Batman mode. He couldn't risk his secret identity and Dick's safety based upon a _feeling._

That would be idiotic and thoughtless . . . Much like Superman's way of thinking.

"You're probably wondering why I'm here."

The way the robot spoke English was human-like and far from Red Tornado's robotic version of English. It was very strange since the thing's appearance suggested robot. Maybe it was a cyborg or had this conversation recorded from its leader. Perhaps it was merely armor and there was a human inside acting like a robot.

" . . . really trust them? After all, they hide behind masks and brand themselves with false names to be called by. There is no telling what they truly do in that station of theirs."

Bruce silently cursed at the thing's words and how it was casting the Justice League into a shadow of mistrust. Was it this being's purpose to make the world no longer trust the Justice League? Or was its intent more sinister? Did it plan on getting _rid_ of the Justice League?

It was times like this that Bruce really hated being outside the loop.

" . . . ask me. Why don't you question Bruce Wayne? After all, he's the Dark Knight or as most people call him, Batman-"

He couldn't believe the words that the robot had unleashed into the air. Bruce just couldn't believe that the robot had actually _figured _it out as he swiftly escaped the meeting room before questions could be fired. He knew that if he denied it and the robot proved him wrong, his action would prove that heroes were liars (even though they only lie about their identities . . . and some other things). That would not help the Justice League's case or Young Justice's-

_Dick!_

Bruce wanted to smack himself for not considering that there's more than one robot as he slipped into his office to escape his building. It hadn't occurred to him that maybe this was going on all over the world. Of course, he had no proof to suggest that but it didn't matter. It was better to overestimate your enemy than to _underestimate. _

_If they've touched a single hair on his head, I'll skip informing the Justice League and take out the source myself. _

Once Bruce was being teleported to his cave, he grabbed his utility belt out of his pocket and pressed down on the bat buckle. He absentmindedly noticed that Alfred was at the Bat Computer and pulling up the news as he waited for Dick to answer. Dick _had_ to answer. If something happened to him again, Bruce would never forgive himself . . . Never.

_Come on, Dick . . . Pick up! This is no time to have misplaced your belt!_

Bruce could barely get himself to breathe as he waited to hear Dick's voice. All he could think about was how the last time it had taken Dick this long to answer, _that_ had happened. He could only see Dick's small body hanging in his arms as blood dripped from Dick's back, marking each second of Bruce's fear spiking upward. He could only hear Dick's strangled breathing and the pounding of his own pulse in his ears, reminding him of who _should_ have been in Dick's place.

Only a soft whisper managed to drag Bruce out of his memory.

"_So . . . What's up, Bruce?_"

**A/N-** I'm aware that it was kind of cruel to end it there but hey, I could have let you think that something had happened to Dick until next chapter. I had planned on that but decided against it. After all, I haven't updated since 11-9-12 . . . This was published on 1-7-13 with the length of 1,181 words.


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer- . . . I'm not saying anything until my lawyer is present. I HAVE RIGHTS! YOU CAN NEVER MAKE ME TALK! NEVER!

You know, I _should_ be updating "Behind Closed Doors" but you guys keep sending me reviews, begging for another chapter for this fanfic. I could have easily ignored you guys but I'm in "What Lies in a Mask" mode and can't stop thinking about it! Heck, I'm even _dreaming_ about my plans for upcoming chapters. -_- Now I'm itching to write the next chapter when I shouldn't be until _after _I've updated everything else! Do you guys see what you've done to me?

Note- I know nothing about Artemis' past except the whole my-parents-are/were- villains thing. I know that Artemis' mom took the fall for her husband and I am _so_ going to use that. XD So whatever I say about Artemis' past is probably not what they tell us in Young Justice.

**Chapter 4**

You know, when Artemis had climbed out of bed this morning, she had thought about going back to bed and skipping school. She had felt a sense of dread and anticipation in the pit of her stomach, something that she had felt only once before on the day her mom took the fall for her father . . . Literally. Needless to say, this foreboding feeling was something that Artemis had hoped she would _never_ feel again. The feeling only warned her of something bad, never something good but Artemis had ignored her feeling, chalking it up to nausea. She had thought that if she ignored it, nothing bad would happen. She had thought if she didn't worry or make a big deal about it like last time, nothing bad would happen to her mother again.

She should have worried about herself.

When the robot had come out of the television and into her homeroom, Artemis' right hand moved to reach for an arrow but only grasped thin air. She bit her tongue to stop herself from spitting out a few choice words as the robot began to move about and prattle on about how they should question the Justice League's motives. When the robot began to voice some people's thoughts about why the Justice League didn't seem to trust or care aobut the people they're protecting, Artemis felt something within her snap.

_He. Did. Not. Just. Say. That!_

How could the robot even _suggest_ that the Justice League didn't care? If they didn't care, why would they go out each day and save people at the risk of losing their own lives? Why bother with saving people and stopping the villains? Why even call themselves the Justice League? Why not let people learn just _how much _heroes sacrificed for the good of the world?

_Seriously, if we didn't care, we wouldn't do it! We wouldn't bother jumping into burning buildings to save children or parents left behind! We wouldn't bother shielding the innocent bystanders when a bomb goes off! We wouldn't bother doing anything! We would just watch the world crumble into an unfixable mess!_

"If they don't care, why save us? Why risk their safety for us? Dude, we're not stupid enough to believe whatever lies you tell!" shouted Danny, a boy that had once voiced his concerns about heroes a few months ago but had a change of heart after his mother was saved.

The robot merely swatted at Danny's words, pushing them aside as if they held no meaning. "Human, you truly are naïve. Have you really placed _that_ much trust into-"

"Into what? A league of heroes who have proved themselves time and time again?" Danny asked the robot through his clenched teeth.

"Ah, but if it's all a show? What if they're not who you think they are? Who is to say that they're not a race of conquering aliens?"

Danny slammed his left fist onto his desk, the noise startling the silent students and the shaking teacher who had just started today. "You're really ticking me off, you hunk of junk! You're not even giving the Justice League a chance to defend themselves-"

"Oh, I beg to differ. Artemis Crock, also known as Artemis the archer, is hear and can very well defend herself but hasn't yet. I wonder why-"

The robot's sentence was cut off by the sound of the classroom door slamming against the wall, the sound startling the students once again. They had no chance to smooth their nerves though because two superheroes, one slightly shorter with black hair and the other with red hair, swiftly took out the robot. The students could only stare with their mouths hanging open as they watched the two heroes rip the robot apart. When the teenaged heroes were finished, they turned and focused their eyes at someone at the back of the room. The students slowly turned around and saw who the two superheroes were looking at.

Artemis Crock.

"Hey, Artemis. Long time, no see," the redhead joked with grin.

Artemis twitched. "Apparently not long enough. You're still alive."

"And there goes the lovebirds," the smaller teenager murmured absentmindedly as he typed on what seemed to be a holographic computer.

One of the female students shrieked with excitement when she finally recognized the smaller hero. "You're Robin!"

Robin blinked at the girl's words, looking slightly distracted as he continued to examine the robot's remains. "That's what they call me."

"And that's . . . Flash boy," the girl said with uncertainty.

Kid Flash twitched with annoyance. "For the last time, it's _Kid Flash_!"

Artemis snorted as she got out of her seat. "Like it matters. It means the same thing."

"Oh, so you'd be okay if people here and there got your name wrong and called you Athena?" Kid Flash said as he and Artemis followed Robin out of the classroom, leaving behind some very shocked students.

"That's not the same thing!" Artemis argued as they took a right.

"Yes, it is!"

"No, it's not!"

"Yes, it _is_!"

"No, it's _not_!"

"KF, Artemis, I'm sorry to break up your little lover's quarrel but there's an angry crowd of evil robots in the hall . . . And they don't look like they're the patient type," Robin said as he pulled out some batarangs, looking ready to rip their obstacle apart.

Artemis' eyes widened. "And how am I supposed to protect myself? I don't have my-"

Wordlessly, Robin whipped out her bow, arrows and Artemis suit and handed them to her. Artemis, despite being glad that she didn't have to fight her way through the robots to get her hero stuff from her locker, was giving Robin her suspicious eye. How did he know she kept an emergency bow, arrows and suit in her school locker? How did he know what school she went to?

_. . . Because he's related to Batman._

Suppressing her urge to smack her forehead, Artemis slipped into the girl's bathroom to her right and quickly put her suit on.

_This should be fun._

**A/N- **Yeah, I hadn't planned on making Artemis' part _so_ long. I kind of got carried away . . . This was published on 1-10-13 with the length of 1,204 words.


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer- Remind me again. Just _who _does own Young Justice?

Man, it's been almost _four months_ since I've updated! Between school, insomnia, illnesses and just plain forgetting, countless weekends slipped through my fingers and shattered. I know how much you guys must have mentally pleaded for me to update . . .

Please don't kill me!

Fun Fact: If I'm tired enough, I turn off my alarms in my sleep. _Seriously_.To counterattack this, I have to put my IPod on my bookcase on the other side of my room. That way if I'm sleeping-turning (that's what I call it), my bedroom's cold air will wake me up. Either way, I defeat my mind's subconscious desire to sleep more.

Fun Fact 2: But sometimes . . . I wake up with my IPod in my hands and the alarms turned off. -_-

**Chapter 5**

Wallace Rudolph West's day had started out like any other day. He had yet again somehow turned off his alarms in his sleep so when he finally got out of bed, he had five minutes to get to school. Wally, always unsurprised by this, speedily got dressed, shoved some breakfast down his throat and took the back ways to get to school. Of course when he walked into his classroom, the bell immediately went off and Wally merely smiled as he sat down.

After that, it all went downhill.

A robot jumped out of the ancient TV, spouted off a bunch of superhero nonsense and argued with a few students that dared to talk back. After allowing some teenagers to converse with it, the robot then bluntly revealed Wally's most precious secret.

"Kid Flash is Wally West, the boy in the third row."

_Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse! Is this robot _trying _to get Batman to kill me?!_

Even though Wally had momentarily thought of denial, he knew that he could not. If he did, his actions would only further prove the robot's idiotic accusations. That was something that Wally wanted to avoid. What good would it do to push people to trust this robot? Wouldn't it be better to try to prove to citizens that the robot's words held no concrete truth?

That was prompted Wally to merely flash a grin and say a few words before racing to find Dick, the boy who usually had all the answers.

"You caught me."

After that, Wally's actions were pretty simple. He stopped by his house, slipped his suit on and made a dash towards Gotham Academy where he would find his best friend. Once he got there, Wally picked up Dick from his classroom and had been planning on going to the Batcave (Batman told him the location only so that he could take Dick there for emergencies) until Dick told him about Artemis.

"Artemis goes _here?_ As in Gotham Academy?"

Dick merely nodded as he opened a secret compartment in his locker and retrieved his Robin suit.

Wally gaped at Dick. "And you didn't think to tell me? Me, your best friend?"

Arching an eyebrow, Dick gave him a look that told him all.

"Right. I forgot about bat secrecy," Wally sheepishly said as he watched Dick go around the corner to dress.

"Obviously," Dick muttered.

After Wally and Dick momentarily had a mild fight about Wally's short term memory, they once again raced down the halls towards Artemis' classroom. As they edged closer to the door, Wally mumbled a few words.

"I can't believe you go to school with her."

Dick couldn't help the smirk that lit up his face. "Jealous?"

"No!"

"Wally, you're such a bad liar," Dick replied with glee and opened the door before Wally could reply.

_I am _so_ going to get back at him for this!_

**_Back To The Robot Fight**_

As Artemis went to change, Wally and Dick immersed themselves to a fight where it was man versus machine. Despite how Wally's world had been turned upside, he let out a soft laugh. This was way too much like-

"What's so funny?" Dick asked him as he swiftly took out two robots.

"This is so _Terminator_!" Wally said gleefully as he ripped off some robotic arms. "I keep waiting for Arnold to show up with black sunglasses and say-"

"Who?" Artemis asked as she began to join in the fight.

Wally resisted the urge to look at her and gape. "You know, Arnold Schwarzenegger? The guy in _Terminator?_"

"In what?" Artemis asked in confusion as she took out one of the few remaining robots.

Dick snickered, sensing where this conversation was heading and how Wally would shriek. "Oh, you've done it now."

"You don't know what _Terminator_ is? What world have you been living in?!" Wally shrieked as he snapped the last robot's head off.

"Hmm, this one?"

Dick could only shake his head and laugh as he watched Wally freak out. If Dick hadn't known any better, he would think that Wally's brain was about to explode. Dick's thoughts would have continued but his belt started to beep, signaling that someone was trying to get ahold of him. Frowning, Dick reached down to unhook the R symbol from his belt. It had to be Bruce . . . Right? And it wasn't like he was hurt or anything. He was currently at work . . .

Clearing his throat, Dick held it up to his face and hoped that Bruce was on the other side and not Alfred. If it was Alfred calling . . . That would mean-

"So . . . What's up, Bruce?"

**A/N- **Okay, this chapter wasn't one of my best. It was rushed and I only semi-like it. I hope you like it though. I added some humor to make up for lost time. This was publish on 5-4-13 with the length of 978 words.


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